


All Aboard!

by longlost10



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-09-30 04:32:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10153730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longlost10/pseuds/longlost10
Summary: After graduating from Silas, Laura gets treated to a cruise as a way of getting her to her new job in England. On the ship, she meets one Carmilla Karnstein who convinces Laura to push the envelope a bit more than she was expecting.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this (https://goo.gl/ZAVILo) prompt/post running in my head for ages. Finally decided to flesh it out.

The pulsing music of the club wasn’t exactly her style of music, she preferred the bouncing beats of the Top 20 playlist. This DJ was brutally murdering her favorite songs my opting to ‘mix’ and ‘remix’ them with techno. They sounded like garbage now, in her opinion. Laura didn’t even know why she was sitting at the bar of the ship’s ‘young adult’ club. Her father had been insistent that she get out of their room on the first night ‘to make friends’ for the next few days. She didn’t understand the need to make friends she’d lose in a few weeks’ time anyway- she’d prefer to be in her room reading her journalism class’ assigned reading.

It was a graduation present of sorts, the cruise. She had accepted a job with The Guardian which required her to relocate to England and her father suggested they take a few weeks’ vacation in Greece and then take a cruise from there to England where he’d help her move all of her worldly belongings into a small apartment they determined would be her home a few months ago.

Letting the realization hit her that she’s a college _graduate_ who has to be an Adult like, yesterday, Laura reached forward and took a long drag from her drink. 

A shadow was cast over her glass before the dance lights caused it to disappear. “You would want to pace yourself there, cutie. I know the bartender and they tend to be a little heavy-handed on their counts.” Laura swung around to come face to face with a deep contrast of pitch black hair and pale skin. 

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, instead opting to remain mute as she took in the girl’s sharp jawlines and nearly perfectly shaped eyebrows. Laura closed her mouth and swallowed, feeling the remanence of liquor make its way down. 

“Cat got your tongue?” The girl spoke again, this time a smirk on her face that raised one of those angular brows ever slightly. 

Her words seemed to snap Laura out of whatever haze she was in, prompting her to shake herself ever so slightly and backtrack. Quickly. “N-no! No cat! There’s a distinct lack of- of cats! Not that I dislike cats or anything… you know, in case you like cats! I actually prefer them over dogs. Although one of my friends from university adopted a bunch of lab rats and they turned out to be really rather-”

The girl gave a small chuckle; barely audible over the blasting music but silencing Laura immediately. “Cupcake, relax.” The grin was back on the stranger’s face, this time revealing itself to be softer, putting Laura uncomfortably at ease. “I was just messing with you.”

Laura forced a laugh. “Of course!” Her grin, however, was au naturel. “Thanks for the warning. Not that there’s too much to worry about here on a boat… I’m not exactly about to go driving about drunk.” The woman raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk playing on her lips. “Not that I suggest drunk driving! I’m actually really against drunk driving! I- I-” She suddenly stopped herself, grateful for the dark atmosphere to cover her blush. “I’m Laura.” She said, thrusting her hand out towards the other woman.

“Carmilla.” The newly identified Carmilla reached forward and slowly shook her hand. The movement caused another grin to work its way up Laura’s face. The party lights dimmed in lieu of a slow song the DJ was playing. Thank Rowling for small favors. “So what’s your story, creampuff?”

Despite the small pang of annoyance that ran through her at the nickname even though she had just introduced herself, Laura gave a small shrug. “My story?” She couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her as she shook her head. “Not important, I can promise you that.”

The corset-wearing girl just shook her head. “Well, I personally refuse to believe you think of yourself as unimportant.” A soft smile graced the red lips before Carmilla brought her glass to her lips.

“In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important”, Laura muttered quietly, a smile forming.

Carmilla raised an eyebrow, obviously hearing her mentally flash back to a bigger-on-the-inside phone box. “If you’re 900 years old then I’m a vampire.” Her laughter wasn’t laced with malice, as Laura instinctively suspected. Instead it was a soft chuckle with an almost sultry tone, completely catching her off guard. 

“Well if you’re a vampire, that’s one heck of a story.” She said, trying to smoothly recover. “As someone with a journalism degree, I must insist that I hear more about you.”

This seemed to go over well as Carmilla bit her lip with a grin, as if to hide a tooth-filled smile and look nonchalant. “Insist, do you?” Laura nodded, trying her hardest to keep control of her own smile. “Well then... Who am I to deny an interview with an adorable journalist?” Carmilla gracefully offered Laura her hand and, when she took it, led the smaller girl away from the bar and towards a table a few rows away from the dance floor. 

After pulling out Laura’s chair, Carmilla held up a slim finger before slipping back into the throng as easily as a hot knife through butter. Before she could begin to try to track her in the crowd Carmilla reappeared, on the opposite side of the table nonetheless, holding two highball glasses. One held contents that looked like a sunset while the other seemingly held water. She placed the glasses on the table and smiled before slipping into the seat next to Laura.

“How do I know that these aren’t drugged?” Laura smiled, only half joking. Being roofied wasn’t exactly on her plan for the night, or even the cruise. She managed to go through multiple Zeta parties without blacking out and she was proud of that fact. It was one of those things on her anti-bucket list.

Despite the accusatory question, Carmilla laughed kindly and reached forward to take the glass with the clear liquid and brought it to her lips. Before she took a sip, she looked expectantly at Laura. “Do you want the vodka-lemonade?”

With a wordless blink, she shook her head and reached forward to bring the colorful drinks’ straw to her mouth. After a sip, Laura decided that whatever the drink was, it was better than lemonade and vodka. 

Her contentment must not have been too well hidden as Carmilla smiled knowingly. “I knew you’d like the Florida Sunshine.”

Laura faked offence, putting her hand against her chest and letting out a soft gasp. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re just a bundle of sunshine. Why wouldn’t your drink be too?”

This caught her off guard and left her speechless, allowing Carmilla to take a victory sip with a smirk playing on her lips. “Shut up.” Laura mumbled, bringing the glass up to her face to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks.

Damn that victory smirk of hers. “So. Journalism degree?”

“Yeah. I just graduated. Silas University.” Laura said, sitting up a bit straighter at the welcome distraction. “I’m moving to London for work and this cruise was my Dad’s graduation gift slash way to watch over me while I celebrate to make sure I don’t get drunk or do anything stupid.”

Not that she was still annoyed her father kept treating her like a five-year-old who constantly needed a babysitter. After 21 years one would think the mild paranoia would at least subside to begrudging trust (or something). At least at her new job she’d be in a completely other country than her dad, so it’d be a bit easier for her to maintain some independence. 

A knowing smile grew on the other girl’s face. “I know the feeling well. My mother’s...” Carmilla’s eyes glazed over ever so slightly, lost in thought. But before it ever became an issue, by awkward pause or Laura herself, Carmilla came right back with a serious, “strict” to complete the sentence. 

Because she _clearly_ wanted to ruin whatever friendship was forming, Laura blurted out, “I’m the only child, so that’s why he’s like, massively overprotective. What happened with your mom?” Even as the words came out, Laura realized her mistake. That was a heavy question between lifelong friends, much less someone they’ve met within the hour. Time to backtrack. “Oh crap. I didn’t mean that. I’m so, so sorry-”

“Relax cupcake.” There was no smile this time, but Carmilla’s voice put her at ease. “It’s just how she functions.” At this point in her journalistic career, Laura had done many interviews and had gotten rather good at reading emotions, between the lines, micro facial expressions; the whole nine yards. It only took her a half-second to realize that Carmilla was lying, or at the very least, there was more to the story than just a mother who was strict. The lack of mention of a father also raised a red flag.

But she let it go- it wasn’t something that they were going to dive into tonight. They were on a cruise, not in a 24/7 therapy session.

Laura bashfully looked down at her drink and played a little with the straw, uncomfortable that she had so easily and (if she was being honest with herself) ungracefully, threw herself over the invisible social line to ruin the jovial air between them. She only looked up at Carmilla’s snort after she had unsuccessfully tried to take a drink and ended up putting her straw up her nose. At least the dark-haired girl looked relaxed again… at the very least, the ghost of her smile returned.

The sound of _Ringtone 1_ started blasting from Laura’s pocket. With a sigh, she held up the ‘just a minute’ finger to Carmilla and fished the ancient technology from her pocket. “Wow that’s nearly old as time itself”, commented Carmilla as Laura rolled her eyes and flipped the phone open. A message popped up saying that there was a new text message in her inbox and, after navigating to it, revealed it was from her dad, asking when she’d be back in the room. 

“It’s my dad.” Laura answered in response to both the phone itself and the text message that was received. “I swear, I think he thinks that if he doesn’t check in on me, I’m going to do something insane and impulsive.”

Carmilla shrugged, leaning back in her chair. “There’s nothing wrong with insane and impulsive. I’ve done a lot of impulsive things that have ended up pretty amazing.” When Laura scoffed, she continued with, “I spoke to you tonight, didn’t I?” which caused another blush to rush up her cheeks.

Determined to not let the other girl win, Laura managed to get her brain to voice “Maybe impulsive and ridiculous is the better word.” It came out a bit defeated, as if she would ever _want_ to do something impulsive, insane and ridiculous. But who knows. Maybe one day.

“Like I said, nothing wrong with ridiculous and impulsive.” Carmilla put her drink down and reached forward to take the phone from Laura’s hand, pausing to get her consent. With an amused smile, Laura nodded and pushed the phone in the other girls’ direction. 

Carmilla opened the phone’s camera, came in close to Laura, prompted her to smile and snapped a picture. “You see, for me, I think the best way to deal with those types of parents is to push the boundaries.” The girl started navigating through the flip phone, something Laura was weirdly ok with (which would probably be more concerning to her on a normal day but she was on vacation, right?) “But do it so that you’re riding on the edge of insane and plausible. You know- keep them on their toes.” Carmilla looked up from what seemed like the T9 essay she was typing on the phone to smirk up at Laura. “That way, when you do something that’s legitimate, they don’t care about it because they already think you’ve done something a hundred times worse.”

While the other girl was amusing to listen to, there was a strong ethical part of her that disagreed. Her relationship with her father was one built on mutual trust and honesty. His paranoia, while annoying most of the time, was for her own good and she couldn’t hold it against him after what happened to her mother. “I don’t know. They do have like, actual years of experience on us and have been through everything we’ve done before.” Laura countered, now eyeing her phone with great interest as Carmilla had stopped typing. “Even if not personally, life experience is a real thing that holds a bit of weight.”

“Sure.” Carmilla laughed, pressing a single button and handing over Laura’s phone. “But it’s sure fun to mess with them in the meantime.” Laura looked down at her phone and noticed two things: a notification that said a contact Carmilla Karnstein was added and another one that said a message was now sitting in her outbox. Curious, she navigated to the text message and opened it up. Sent to her dad was the picture of her and Carmilla just seconds before with the caption: “We’re getting married!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went on my own cruise and meant to have this chapter published before I left but WHOOPS. Things have been crazy at work. Hope you all enjoy!

“What did you do?” Laura asked, horrified and wide-eyed. She started opening the limited menus on the text, looking for if there was a ‘recall message’ option somewhere between the pixels. Soft laughter prompted her to look up and stare at the amused brunette. “What are you laughing at?” Laura glared, completely unamused. Getting an idea, Laura went to her outbox and forwarded the text message to the new number in her phone: Carmilla’s.

As soon as the phone went off, Laura reached forward, taking the phone away from the girl. Despite her father limiting her technical possessions, Laura did not lack competence (she was, after all, a Millennial). After a series of swipes, she allowed Carmilla to take back her phone, grinning as it was discovered that the message and picture sent to her father was also sent to Carmilla’s contact ‘birth giver’.

“What did you do?” Now it was Carmilla’s turn to be terrified. However, there was a difference to the way the question was posed- while Laura’s was spoken in a shrill tone, caught off guard but mostly of disbelief, Carmilla’s was whispered, as if she was witnessing a bomb going off.

Being just as observant as Harry Potter, Laura didn’t catch the changes in Carmilla, much less the worried look that appeared on her face. “If I have to lie to my Dad, you have to lie to your mom.” She said proudly, her victory smirk shining on her face.

Carmilla let out a long sigh, running her hand through her hair. “It’s not the same, cupcake.” Suddenly Laura became aware of the other girl’s new mannerisms- but this time there was no way to backtrack. Realistically though, how bad could her mother be? After all, her own father was just about the most amazing man on the face of the planet… overprotective tendencies notwithstanding. Voicing these thoughts, Carmilla barked out a laugh before taking her drink and taking a long sip. “She’s not a mother, she just happened to adopt me.”

“You’re adopted?” Laura asked, not expecting that admission in the least.

A short nod. “My brother and sister too.” Carmilla said before taking yet another long drink. “But my mother… she’s a… a...” The girl struggled to find the right words, but eventually, find them she did. “Dried-up, saggy wench of a woman masquerading as a sadistic, narcissistic piece of -”

“Carmilla!” It had to be the idealistic vision of her mother that she had in her head mixed with the knowledge of her father that prompted Laura to cut off the other girl. “She can’t be that bad.” 

The only response that the other girl gave was to move the straw of her drink to the side and bring the glass to her mouth, draining the rest of the liquid. “I’m going to need another one of these.” She placed the glass back down on the table, her voice hinting at desperation. “Maybe a stronger one.”

Before Carmilla could go off and drink herself into a stupor do something equally stupid, Laura reached out and touched her arm, eyes begging the girl to stay put. “Ok, look. It’s just a game, right? Pretending to marry each other to worry my dad?” Oh, if looks could kill. “Then we’ll play another game at the same time. One game for my dad and one game for your mom. Different plays, same goal, yeah? We’ll have fun with it.”

“Oh please.” Carmilla scoffed. “Naive, provincial girl. Entirely too tightly wound. Such a cliché.” Despite her mutterings and Laura’s corresponding glares and comments of _You started this, you know…_ , Carmilla eventually succumbed to Laura’s persistence (or charm, depending on who you were asking). “Fine. But we’re going to need backup if we’re going to try to pull something over my mother.”

Smirking and struggling to not roll her eyes, Laura let out a small chuckle. “Backup?” She asked. “Does your mom really need more proof than your word?”

“The fact that you’re calling her _mom_ as if she deserves any affection from me only proves you haven’t met her.” Carmilla said, reaching forward to grab Laura’s hand. Before she knew it she was being dragged across the club, being woven between people until they arrived at the entrance and stumbled into the hall.

Carmilla kept the firm grip on Laura’s hand as she led them though the halls and down a flight of stairs. “Do you even know where we’re going?” Laura asked as Carmilla opened a door masquerading as a wall that was clearly intended for the ship crew members. With only a cursory glance in Laura’s direction, they continued to descend to the bottom-most floor. 

It smelled like grease, body odor and 100% humidity. Laura wrinkled her nose in disgust as she was led through yet another maze of halls before stopping in front of a closed door. Carmilla raised a hand and knocked once… twice… ok now it was considered ruthlessly pounding. “J.P. If you don’t open this door, I swear to all that is holy-”

The door flung open to reveal a rather tired looking man, probably only a few years older than the two of them. There was something about his face that resonated with Laura- it was the face she wore during her many finals weeks; struggling to meet deadlines and ingesting coffee and sugar at a rate that nearly rivaled having an IV in her arm. “What do you want Carmilla?” He sighed, already defeated by the conversation. 

“J.P, this is Laura. Laura, this is J.P, the ship’s lead mechanic. He’s going to help us.” Carmilla smiled innocently. Despite just meeting Carmilla, it gave Laura chills- something wasn’t right with the picture on a primal level.

“J.P will not.” The mechanic mocked, his head moving back and forth with his words. He turned to Laura, “Nothing against you, of course. But Carmilla and I have know each other for a while. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He said with a smile, offering her his hand. Was his accent British? Or Scottish? Or a bastardized version of the two?

She shook off her thoughts before reaching forward to take his hand. “Nice to meet you too.” Laura said with a smile. At the very least one of the girls in this conversation could be considered polite. 

“Come on, J.P. I need you to do me a solid.” Carmilla said, her faux demeanor dropping faster than the anchor on their boat. She shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms. “Consider it payback for Barcelona.”

“Barcelona was paid back during Madagascar.”

“No, that was for Istanbul.”

“I thought it was for Cairo?”

“Saint Petersburg was for Cairo.”

Laura’s eye grew wide as she watched the pair go back and forth naming countries and cities that apparently made up for one act or another. Unsure of how long it’d go on, Laura interjected- “How about it for now? For me?” She looked over at J.P. and gave her most innocent smile.

The man looked at her, then to Carmilla, then back to Laura before sighing defeatedly and motioning them to come into his cabin. “Don’t make me regret this.” He muttered.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Carmilla sauntered into the mechanic’s room with a smirk on her face before sitting on the edge of his bed. 

Laura walked in and looked around. It was a fair bit smaller than the cabin she shared with her father but it did have the same television mounted in the corner (with presumably the same seven stations). But it was obvious housekeeping did _not_ come to this room- towels thrown over chairs and various tools lying on the floor made that point clear. Carefully, she followed Carmilla’s trail and took a seat on the small twin bed that was shoved in the corner.

“So what can I do for you ladies?” J.P. asked, sitting down on the chair by the desk and nonchalantly dumping the various objects that were previously occupying the space onto the floor. Without a word, Carmilla slid the man her phone and let him read the screen. He let out a loud laugh. “Oh this is too good.” He looked up to Carmilla, passing her phone back. “Has your mother decided to hunt for your blood yet?”

“We’re trying to avoid any spilt blood on this cruise.” Carmilla said, almost a little disappointedly. “We definitely want to pull one over her dad and that giant stick shoved so far up his-”

“Carmilla!”

“But I also don’t want to be the sole occupant of the ship’s morgue.” Carmilla finished, glaring at Laura for her interruption.

J.P. nodded. “Well if your mom offs her too, you won’t be the _sole_ occupant of the morgue.” He smiled for about a half second before the glare Carmilla sent him erased it off his face. “So how convincing do you want it to be?” He asked, leaning back and looking between the two. “I’m going to assume you never met Carmilla before tonight- don’t give me that look lady killer, it wouldn’t be the first time- so we can set your families up to have dinner together for the rest of the time at sea. Also some fun sea-side brunch touches would be nice. Maybe a little love note in your respective mailboxes here and there?”

Laura watched him with wide eyes. It was almost as if fake marriages on his ship were a relatively common occurrence! “We only have a week on this boat, it won’t be too hard to keep up.” Carmilla rationalized. “Maybe a day or two before we port, we’ll tell them it was a prank.”

“Days up to then being the ‘helplessly in love’ days? Spread word about the fake wedding among the passengers?” J.P offered. “I can tell the crew who need to know. Housekeeping, dinner staff. They owe me a few favors anyway. Plus, this is probably the most amusement they’d have on this boat in a while.”

“Glad we have an understanding.” 

Carmilla got up and offered a hand which J.P. took happily. “Having you on board is always an adventure, Miss Karnstein.” 

To this, Carmilla smirked before replying something along the lines of “No, that was Johannesburg”, but Laura couldn’t quite hear her. She figured it was an inside joke that wasn’t even on her to-do list to understand. 

She stood up and followed Carmilla in the direction of the cabin’s door. “It really was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Laura.” J.P. said with a smile.

“Hollis.” Laura corrected with a soft grin. “Laura Hollis.” She momentarily felt the smugness of being James Bond.

J.P. nodded and gave a small bow. “My apologies Miss Hollis.” He stood up properly and reached forward to kiss her hand. Laura blushed. “May we meet again.”

“Y-yeah.” Laura managed as Carmilla cleared her throat, now holding the door open and half standing in the hallway. With another blush and wave of her hand, Laura finally left the room, the cabin’s door closing with a resounding slam of metal hitting metal.

Carmilla glanced over at her, clearly having just finished rolling her eyes. “... accents make you hot, don’t they?” With Laura’s response being more color flushing her cheeks, Carmilla sighed, shaking her head before walking off and leaving alone outside of J.P’s door. “He still owes me for Puerto Rico!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up at sarthefirst.tumblr.com if you have anything you'd like to know!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things that happened since I last posted:  
> \- The Girl broke up with me  
> \- My best friend moved halfway across the country  
> \- I started a new rotation at my job
> 
> ... Sorry about the wait and the shortness, but it needed to be done. Next chapter will have more meat (or tofu if that's your thing).

It was about an hour later into the night and the pair found themselves back at the club’s bar. This time, they were both sitting on the stools with cups in their hands despite the bartender’s heavy pours. Carmilla was a full shot or two ahead of her, but Laura wasn’t exactly trying to keep up. Unlike the other girl, she didn’t think the situation required excessive drinking. 

Their cell phones sat on the bar between them, each taking turns to light up and display the many unread messages waiting for their owners. 

Unsurprisingly, Laura’s had left double digits hours ago- probably around the time she started regretting buying the ship’s social media plan.

Luckily, it was getting late and she was fairly certain her father would be going to bed soon. Unless he chose to stay up and question her upon her return in which their current vigil would deem meaningless. 

“How’s your night going?” A voice caught her attention, prompting her to look up from her drink and in its direction. It was a guy, probably only a handful of years older than her, leaning over a bar stool to smile at Carmilla.

To her surprise, Carmilla turned towards the newcomer with a grin so wide it could challenge one of Laura’s own. “Oh, look at these. Such arms, such shoulders. The primitive by way of the neoclassical.” Could Carmilla really be hitting on this guy? Maybe she was a bit drunker than Laura originally presumed. 

Sobriety, or perhaps lack thereof, didn’t seem to bother the man as he smiled and proudly proclaimed, “Yeah, well. I work out.” 

Did he just flex his arms? What a tool.

Carmilla walked her fingers up his chest. “I could… eat you alive.” In a flash, Carmilla brought her knee up, her aim striking true. The arrogant smirk on the guy’s face was wiped off his face as the hand that was just caressing his chest was now holding his head down. Shocked, Laura looked as Carmilla leaned down and whispered something into the man’s ear. 

Whatever it was caused him to flush pink and, as soon as he was released from her grip, scampered away back into the (admittedly thinning) crowd at the club. Carmilla returned to her barstool and her drink as if nothing happened, silently taking a sip of the amber liquid in her cup.

“What was that?” Laura asked, eyes wide at the event that had just unfolded.

The other girl looked over to her slowly, as if to say _really_? “That was a fuckboy.” She replied dryly before looking back down at her drink. Laura can’t make out her next words, but they sounded suspiciously like “broken gaydar.” 

They stayed quiet for a while, returning to their almost comfortable silence.

After a few minutes though, Laura looked over at her drink and then at her phone. She reached over and took it off the bar, fiddling with it in her hands. It had remained silent relatively recently, so it might be safe to return to the cabin. “I think I’m going to go to bed.” Her voice felt a little empty, overwhelmed at everything that happened within the last few hours.

Carmilla looked over at her words, looking a little surprised. “You sure?” She asked. Carmilla’s voice was small and she seemed to know it as she cleared her throat and followed it up with a more confident “I guess I shouldn’t keep you, I hear you’re engaged.”

Despite the heavy feeling in her stomach, Laura laughed at the comment. “Yeah, I my fiancée can kick some butt if she wants.”

“Do you want me to walk you to your room? Do you know where it is?” Carmilla asked, sliding her drink away from her and standing up. She raised her arms over her head and stretched before letting out a (very) relaxed sigh.

Laura shook her head, “No. I’ve got it. I might have not have been on as many cruises as you, but I do remember my room number.” Not to mention the very useful signs posted outside of every elevator bay that exclaimed ‘You are here!’ She gave the other girl a smile though, letting her know that the words weren’t intended with malice. “You’ll have to tell me about Barcelona one day.”

This brought out a loud laugh from the other girl, even over the booming music. “I’m not sure you’re ready for that story, cutie.” Carmilla started walking towards the exit, beckoning for Laura to follow with a mere wiggle of her eyebrows.

“Then start off with Cairo.” Laura grinned, nearly skipping after the other girl without hesitance. “I’ve always wanted to go to Cairo. Or Paris! I haven’t been to Paris!”

Carmilla didn’t speak until they left the threshold of the club and the bass stopped shaking their rib cages. “You want to go to Paris?” She asked, almost a little surprised.

Now that they eased into casual conversation without alcohol or fuckboys, Laura gave some thought to the question. “I just want to travel. I’ve never been to London either. Even though I’m moving there.” Laura introspected. “Dad went during the semester to find an apartment for me since I was too busy studying.”

“Studying?” That sarcastic voice was going to be the death of her.

“ _Giving a valiant attempt at_... studying.” She defended. 

Luckily, Carmilla let that one go as they approached an elevator bay. Laura reached forward and pressed the button to summon an elevator. “London’s nice. It’s a favorite of mine.” Carmilla said, interrupting the silence. “If I could move back there more permanently, I would.” A door gave a soft _ding_ , indicating that an elevator arrived behind it.

The two got onto the elevator car and Laura pressed the button for her cabin’s floor as they lapsed into silence as a family was already engaged in a heated debate. Fortunately her floor arrived quickly and the girls departed, bidding the family a goodnight. “Where do you live now?” Laura asked, curiosity peaking.

“Neither here nor there.” Carmilla said, waiving off the question with her hand. “Is this your stop, cupcake?” Laura was surprised when she found herself standing outside of her cabin’s door. She hadn’t even noticed that they had stopped walking.

“Um. Yeah.” She blinked, still trying to process it. “This is me.”

Carmilla seemed to be amused at her confusion, a common theme Laura’s picked up on throughout the night and could easily say that it wasn’t a favorite. “What do you think about brunch tomorrow at the restaurant around 10:30?”

Laura’s eyes lit up. “Brunch is amazing.”

The other girl grinned and claimed, “It’s a date”, causing Laura to blush a deep red and look down at her shoes. “I suppose you could bring your father. Mother probably won’t leave me out of her sight for the next few days.” Carmilla mused depressingly. “But we can’t hide from our parents forever. And if I have to deal with Mother, I’m taking you with me.”

“She can’t be that bad.” Laura persisted. There was no way that Carmilla’s mother was as bad as she kept claiming. How could _any_ mother be that bad? They basically oozed maternal instincts. That was their job.

Carmila merely gave a knowing grin. “I’ll see you in the morning.” The girl turned around and walked out of sight, leaving Laura to open the cabin door and walk into the semi-darkness comforted only by her confused thoughts and the heavy feeling in her stomach.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!  
> A+ or F- I'll take it.  
> Leave a comment here or I'm at sarthefirst.tumblr.com


End file.
